Greetings JNC! Its finally time to breath new life into my tired and trusty '81 Accord my kids and i call "Betty". Around fall 2011 i was still daily driving old faithfull when suddenly the motor decided to quit after 30 years of service and awesome fuel economy. Dissappointment set in which comes with the territory sometimes keeping an old car on the road. Selling her was not an option so i closed the hood, walked away, and she sat for over a year which gets us here today. I always said if the motor ever gave out i would do a dohc mpfi swap or do her right with a full restoration, i chose to restore. She always took care of me so she deserves it. lol

I purchased "Betty" running, original, and rough around the edges in late '03 as a throw away car (suspended DL at the time) for $350. After running through the drivetrain and making her street worthy i daily drove her an average of at least 100 miles a day till the day the motor broke. I really grew to love the character and driving experience of the old car and racked up thousands of miles. I had driven the car on many memorable "missions" and was never left stranded, not once. When i was younger with no kids i took the accord everywhere from many T.J. and Ensenada Mexico trips to middle of nowhere desert parties and loads of LA/Hollywood trips. It was always funny hitting venues with valet parking for shits and giggles. Nowadays my kids also love her and really enjoy being in it and bouncing down the road! They always ask "When are you going to fix Betty dad?" lol

It is the original motor so actual mileage is unknown. Gotta love a 5 digi odometer! So with internal engine damage, unknown engine noise from the block when cold possibly piston slap or rod knock, and an oil consumption issue. The motor was a bit tired to say the least. I opted to find a clean untouched longblock which was not an easy task. After about half a year with no luck and only finding junk and neglected motors i finally found the motor you see here locally at a pick-a-part type yard out of a clean donor that read 68k on the clock. I checked the motor out and popped the pan to check the crank and finally found a winner. I returned the following weekend to take advantage of a 50% off sale on everything in the yard, dropped and purchased the complete swap including the trans and all accessories from the carb to the pan and everything in between for total of $206.00 USD, even included an older type hood with the hood emblem that i found there. Great day at the junkyard!

Factory bearing are clean and marked. There's a reason Honda engines can go 500K+ miles with ease if not abused and maintained properly. Honda offers 7 different sized "color coded" bearings for rods/mains and i've never used or been a fan of aftermarket "standard size" or one size fits all bearings. If they're clean they are returned to the factory location to retain honda specs and reliability.

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Last edited by jayone77 on Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I was going to powdercoat the belt pulleys but decided im going to get them yellow zinc coated as well as the crank pulley. Im not too thrilled with the looks of the powdercoated oil cap so im going to get one zinc coated along with all the nuts, bolts, washers, hose clamps, and small brackets for that new factory look. Once i pull the motor/trans out and strip the engine bay i will take pics of everything getting coated.

After applying a few coats of Rustoleum "GM BLUE" engine paint the tape was removed then the block recieved a few coats of Rustoleum engine clear coat for added shine and to protect the bare metal surfaces on the exterior of the block from corrosion. It is now ready for re-assembly. Looks much brighter in these pics than it actually is thanks to the bright California sun.